New-vehicle quality in Malaysia up by 18% from 2015, gap between national/non-national cars narrowest ever

New-vehicle quality in Malaysia has improved by 18% from 2015, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Malaysia Initial Quality Study (IQS). The largest improvement in the 14 year history of the study has also narrowed the gap between national and non-national brands to the smallest it has ever been.

As in the past, the study examines new-vehicle quality during the first two to six months of ownership, and measures more than 200 problem symptoms covering eight vehicle components, these being vehicle exterior, driving experience, features/controls/displays, audio/entertainment/navigation, seats, HVAC, vehicle interior and engine/transmission.

All problems are summarised as the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles (PP100). A lower PP100 score indicates a lower rate of problem incidence and higher performance.

This year saw an improvement in initial quality across all eight problem categories measured in the study, with engine/ transmission registering the greatest reduction in problems. Vehicle exterior continues to be the category with the most reported problems, a trend that has continued from the beginning of the study in 2003.

Overall initial quality for 2016 was 69 PP100, a far cry from the 259 PP100 registered in 2003. The study added that while the initial quality score for non-national brands is still better at 54 PP100, national brands, with a score of 83 PP100, are closing the gap.

In a span of 14 years, the gap between national and non-national makes has shrunk to just 29 PP100 from 146 PP100. The study added that the year-over-year rate at which national makes are improving outpaces that of non-national makes, at 18% vs. 16%, respectively.

Interestingly, the study also found that there are particular groups of car owners that experience a higher incidence of problems with their vehicles. For example, men report more problems than women (79 PP100 vs 56 PP100 respectively).

Additionally, owners who usually have four passengers in their vehicle report an average of 73 PP100, compared with 54 PP100 for those who drive their car alone. Owners with more than 10 years of driving experience are also more prone to report problems, compared to those with no more than 10 years of driving experience (85 PP 100 vs 55 PP100 respectively).

As was the case with the 2015 study, the top three most frequently cited problems were ‘excessive wind noise’ (4.6 PP100), followed by ‘air conditioning doesn’t get cold enough and fast enough’ (2.7 PP100) and ‘noisy brakes’ (2.5 PP100). Owners of MPV and vans reported the most problems at 79 PP100, although quality in this segment has improved from 90 PP100 in 2015.

In terms of specifics, a total of 39 models were examined in the study, and two Toyota models, one Mazda and one Perodua model were ranked highest in their respective segments.

The Toyota Vios ranked highest in the entry midsize segment (48 PP100), while the Toyota Avanza was number one in the MPV/Van segment (52 PP100) for the eighth consecutive year. The Perodua Myvi aced the compact segment (73 PP100), and the Mazda CX-5 was ranked highest in the SUV segment (41 PP100).

The 2016 IQS involved a total of 39 passenger car, pickup and utility vehicle models from 12 brands, and was based on responses from 2,436 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between August 2015 and June 2016. The study was fielded between February and August this year.

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

What you saying? I owned the Saga FLX SE 1.6 since 2012, not a single day it broke down. Never had major problem, still running fine and taking corners sharply. Almera wheel bearing issue solved? Vios loud knocking noise from font wheels are something to compliment of?

You see Proton drivers, only 4 years with no MAJOR problem they so proud like obtained Harvard degree.
On Toyota, we are looking on 10 years with NO PROBLEM, not even minor problem. Toyota has solid reason to become world’s best selling car maker. Faham, adik?

Bullshit.. I used to drive rush and it have a lot freaking problem.. there ia no car in the world that doesn’t have problem.. Typical SA comment.. ini car drive 5 years no problem la.. buy la.. bullshit..

It’s obvious that interpreting the graph is beyond some folk. Let me try to explain.

Around 2003, say National Car Maker 01 sold 60 cars every time NCM02 sold 40. And each NCM01 had 4 faults per car, but each NCM02 only had 1 fault per car (on average). So for every 100 cars sold (sixty NCM01 and forty NCM02) the total number of faults would be (60×4)+(40×1) = 280 faults per hundred cars. Close enough to the figure of 282 on the graph.

Move on to about 2010, and now NCM01 only sells (say) 25 cars (still 4 faults per car) every time NCM02 sells 75 cars (still 1 fault per car). So now, for every 100 cars sold (twenty-five NCM01 and seventy-five NCM02) the total number of faults is on average (25×4)+(75×1)= 175 faults per hundred cars.

This is how there can be an improvement (downward tilt – less faults per 100 cars indicates a quality improvement) without ANY quality improvement individually in either NCM01 or NCM02 cars. Shrinking market share of the lower quality NCM01 (4 faults per vehicle) replaced by a higher proportion of sales of better quality NCM02 (1 fault per vehicle) effectively improves the AVERAGE quality figure. p.s. If you don’t understand “average”, then all this means nothing to you.

The good thing about this IQS survey is that the owner of the car evaluate his/her own car. It is a true voice of customer. The bad thing being that the sample size is too small that it is ridiculous to claim that the findings are true reflection of the actual condition. As such, the survey is more about business scam than real feedback to manufacturer. My 2 cents.

Sample size does’t matter if the data collected is reliable and credible. In this case data collected from genuine car driver/owner – true voice of customer. If they continue the survey to increase sample, the finding will not to much difference. So why waste time and recourse.

This is one of the simple reason as to why ppl buy Toyotas. 5 years ago, many Malaysians shopping for d segment car did not buy Camry. Instead they went for Hyundai sonata, kia optima, VW Passat, peug 508, Ford Mondeo and all etc. Today they regretted their choices when the cars were not as reliable as a Toyota or honda. Or nissan. Or have a wide service network and proper warranty coverage. Parts availabilities. And worst is when they suffered from super low resales value. No doubt being more than 100k car, an altis and Camry still suffer from heavy depreciation (simple understanding of economics) but others are worst even.

U all missed out 1 point… the reason national carmaker can improve quality this fast is…. they already stop making their own car, but rebadge or use Japanese car instead… so its basically a Jap car… don’t u think so?

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